Craw
by ShadowMaster138
Summary: The beginning of an adventure, set in a world of strife...
1. Chapter 1: The beginning

Craw  
  
The world of Tymal was a world in turmoil. The entire planet was split into two by two-warring factions of differing ideas. On the eastern hemisphere were the folk of magic and legends, who lived in the belief that life was the most valuble prize of all. On the western hemisphere however, was the Tech Imperium, which believed that the only importance of life was to serve their God, Mundagus.   
  
This is the story of a boy of the Tech Imperium who unknowingly ended the war, which had plagued the planet for hundereds of generations.  
  
The light in the seventh story of his apartment flickered lazily, casting a pale yellow gloom through the otherwise grey room. The boy who sat on the floor inside glances up at the light with annoyance. He knew that there was nothing he could do about it at the time. He had no money for a repair and he was never taught in lighting.  
  
He sighed and lied back on the cold wooden floor, scratching the back of his already torn white shirt. This boy was named Brandon Craw, citizen number 6709891, recognised as a certified labourer. In the past month he had not been given any jobs. With the rising use of machines, thought Craw, My job will become useless in a matter of years. He sat up again and ran a few slender and pale fingers through his long, greasy black hair. This just wasn't his day. His sad violet eyes scanned the room with loathing. If only I could escape this place. He quickly ended the thought. Such ideas could be received by the Moral Men, and he could be rehabilitated.   
  
He scolded himself for making such a stupid mistake. "Mundagus, I wish I would get some work." He whispered groggily to himself. He stood and began wandering around the dull, depressing apartment. There were three rooms in total. The one he just left was the main living quarters, which held an old mattress which he found outside his building, an old CompuTurner, an ancient machine which was used as a dictionary, thesaurus and mailbox, and the oh-so-useless Model L light sphere.  
  
Craw wandered out into his kitchen, which was, in reality, just an electric hot plate and a stool, which he used as a table and chair. The same type of sphere, which illuminated the sleeping quarters of Craw, lighted it. He decided to ignore this room completely and just headed for the bathroom, possibly the best room in his entire, well, bigger room. It was equipped with a needle nozzle shower and an auto flush toilet, beside which stood a steel industrial sink.  
  
He shed off the rags, which could be called clothes and stepped into the needle shower, not bothering to activate the privacy screen included with every shower. The slighty discoloured water shot out of the thin nozzle of the showerhead and began 'cleaning' Craw, while all it did was spread the grime on his fairly muscular build. He looked down at his chest with a smirk. These are the only reason I have a job at all. He thought sardonically to himself.  
  
After a few minutes of the uncomfortably cold water spraying over his body he shut off the water and the small dryers in the wall began to hum with life, flooding warm water over his naked body. Craw noted to himself that one of the dryers were not emitting any heat. He sighed to himself, "Just another thing to fix." He stepped out of the shower, feeling like a living shirt after the drying, and he put back on his rags, which were still a bit too big, even after finding them three years earlier.  
  
Just then, the small device near his exit began to beep, to Craw's annoyance. He walks briskly over to the VisiPhone and presses a small green button on it's side, the screen lighting up with static, then clearing to show the scarred face of his only friend, Johnny 'Quick Fingers' Smyth, his mouth twisting into a forced grin, making his stubble more pronounced and the scar on his cheek more out of place.   
  
"Hey buddy, I got something' to tell you! C'mon down, and bring a weapon!" The solid black eyes of Smyth glittered for a moment, and then the connection went dead, leaving a confused Craw staring at it.  
  
"A weapon…?" He sighed and went into his living quarters where he kept his army issue knife under his mattress. He lifted up the mattress, picked up the blade, and ran out the door, through the blue carpeted and brick walled hallway, down the graffiti covered stairs, and in front of the identification panel at the door. He imputed a code and the machine buzzed to life, a metallic sex-less voice issuing from it.  
  
Brandon Craw, citizen 6709891, age 18. Input identification code…   
  
Craw typed in the code hurriedly.  
  
Processing… Nationality, Nurbel. Parents, deceased. Location, 177 Burdig Avenue, room 714, manual labourer. Correct?  
  
"Yes." The door's lock clicked and Craw pushed through it, entering the hellhole, which was the Low Income Housing district of Nurbel. They were just slums, but the government decided that 'slum' was an improper term. Thus, there was the poor people place instead. He looked left and right, trying to remember which way it was to the Industreal district. He made up his mind after a few seconds and started running down the left of the street.  
  
It was always night time in Nurbel, the sun constantly being blotted out by clouds of burning wastes and pollution of all sorts. Only the occasionally functional streetlights provided any light for which people could travel by. Not that it mattered if walkers could see or not. At the time, robotic chauffeurs were all the rage. Craw kept running nonetheless, occasionally jumping over piles of garbage and the occasional person.  
  
About 2 miles from the industrial area, he began to notice the stench of pollution and garbage, which was the trademark of the Industrial district. He pinched his nose with his left hand to try to block out the smell, and kept running down the crisscrossing streets of Nurbel, sometimes glimpsing an occasional air car or zeppelin flying under the smog.  
  
He finally reached the humble abode of Smyth and knocked on the door three times. "Open up!"  
  
The door opened with startling speed and a gloved hand reached out and pulled Craw in, slamming the door behind. Smyth grinned at Craw. "Glad you could make it."  
  
Craw pushes away Smyth's hand and growls a bit. "What do you want me here for? It stinks!" Smyth just laughed quietly and motioned for Craw to follow him into the main room. When Craw rounded the corner, the grizzly sight of two gutted naked men on the floor greeted him. He cried out in surprise and looked at Smyth with horror. "You killed them?!"  
  
Smyth laughs again. "Not just anybody kid. These were soldiers of the Home Guard." He grins. "And I got some pretty nice stuff off o' them. Take a look." He picked up two neatly folded black uniforms with a black and gold cross on the front of each.   
  
Craw seemed to turn pale. "T-The Home Guard?! Are you insane?!"  
  
Smyth put a hand quickly over Craw's mouth, looking angry. "Quit yelling idiot!" He whispered. "Now, I have a plan for these suits. We can finally get out of this dump of a city!"  
  
Craw tried to speak through the glove. "Mphhh! Mphphmm?!" He tore his mouth away from Smyth's hand and exhaled quickly. "What do you mean you have a plan to escape?? You know every other city in the Imperium is gonna be the same no matter where we go!"  
  
Smyth's expression turned to one of amusement. "Who said anything about the Imperium? We're going to the forests of Malathyt.  
  
Craw gasped. "No! No no no no!! That's the land of those barbaric magic users! They'll kill us!"  
  
Smyth's smirk turned to a grin. "I took care of that. I've spoken to one of the women in Malathyt named Vryuin. She says that if we come with an X on our foreheads, they'll know that they wont need to kill us."  
  
"But they'll make us their slaves! You haven't thought this through!"  
  
"Brandon, think about it! We're slaves in this place anyway, but here we only get paid with unhappiness. Even if those people were to make us slaves, I guarantee you that we'll still be happier there than here."  
  
Cram went to speak, but stopped himself. He's right, he thought to himself, maybe it would be better over there. It's not like there's much here… "Alright Johnny. What do we do?"   
  
Smyth's grin widened. "Here's what we do…"  
  
Stay put for part 2 of CRAW 


	2. Chapter 2: The encounter

The border between the Tech Imperium and the Land of the Magic folk was a very heavily guarded line on both sides of the planet. The Imperium used only its finest soldiers and pilots to patrol the war-zone like field. All the soldiers wore full uniforms, which made them indistinguishable from each other.  
Each uniform consisted of a pair of black gloves with blue lining, slightly loose fitting camouflage pants, a black and blue shirt with metal plated chest and arms, and a gas mask like helmet.  
But because the job was so dangerous, the soldiers were given special treatment at work and in society, which included discounts on food rations, and frequent breaks during working hours. So it was no surprise when two of the Honour Guard soldiers marched down the street to the border gates.  
The gates were 50 wide and 30 feet tall, used to keep out the magical creatures of the enemy and to give a sense of security to the populace of the Imperium. At each gate stood a guard of 10 soldiers and 2 class C military suits.  
The suits were the heavy infantry of the Imperium. Each had long 7 foot legs, which were designed to look like those of a human. On top of the legs was the heavily armoured torso, which held the pilot itself, along with two arms and a head, which was used for holding sensory equipment. One arm held a long rifle, while the other held a huge sword, mostly used for taking down large beasts.  
The two soldiers approached the security station and the tekkie inside looked over the two's papers suspiciously. "Hmmm," The man spoke in a low, gruff voice. "I didn't get a message of a raid... Where did you get these?"  
The first soldier, sounding quite young for the army, spoke up. "They were given to us by Sergeant Mytruio of the 202nd infantry division. It seems that the magic ones have been planning an assault on this gate station. And those papers are meant to say Spec Ops mission, not 'A Raid'." The second chuckled lightly.  
The tekkie looked over the papers again with building embarrassment. "Oh --uh-- Of course, of course." He didn't think that Sergeant Mytruio would make a typo of such an important detail, but, orders were orders. "Alright. Clear gate fifteen!"  
The soldiers at the gate hurried away from the groaning and creaking of the huge gate, as the two suits stepped back and seemed to grow alert. Just as the gates had finished opening, a huge bear, three times larger than normal, leaped through the gate and began to attack the soldiers. A few of the soldiers managed to open up on the bear with their sub-machineguns. The bullets did little but anger the huge beast, and it snapped down its huge jaws on one soldier, biting the poor soul in half.  
The suits came around and fired their rifles at the monster, issuing a resonant boom that could be heard from across the station. After the smoke had cleared, all that was left was the bear with two fleshy chunks blown out of it, along with a pair of smoking craters.  
The first soldier, Craw, nudged the second and whispered. "See?" Smyth, in the other suit, just shrugged. "It's just a wild animal. They don't represent the people themselves." A bit louder, he said. "This is why we go on these missions ladies! Now stand aside!"  
Smyth marched past the soldiers with an air of arrogance around him, and Craw couldn't help but smirk under his mask. Well, at least one of us isn't worried. He thought to himself as he followed his friend, eyeing the bloody pile of flesh that was once the bear with a shiver. He wondered vaguely if he were to end up like that... 


	3. Chapter 3: The arrival

"Admit it, you're lost." Sighed Craw as he sat under a tall shady tree in the forest. He and his companion had only been traveling for a few days, and so far they hadn't met a single man or woman of the forest. Plenty of interesting plant life anyway. He thought to himself sarcastically.  
Smyth had thrown off his mask in frustration by now. The path that they had been following had ended abruptly just a few kilometres ago, and now he didn't know which was back and which was forward. "Look, how could I have known that there would be so many damn trees?! It's not like you thought of a map either!"  
"Well I wasn't the one who exactly, oh, spoke to the people!" He tore off his mask in anger. "What were you thinking anyway? Thought there'd be nice little maps posted on every tree?!"  
"Alright, fine! I screwed up okay?! But you don't have to rub it in my face all the time you stupid son of a--" Just as Smyth was about to begin a string of curses, a loud rustling in the tree tops interrupted him. He looked up, with his eyes wide.  
Craw had heard it too, and he looked up at the same place. "W-Who's there?" He called out nervously.  
A woman's voice issued from the tree. "Who are you?" The tree had stopped rustling, but there were faint sounds of footsteps in other directions.  
Smyth stammered. "W-We're the men from the I-Imperium." He quickly raised both index fingers into an X, and Craw quickly does the same.  
The sounds of footsteps stopped for a moment, then a woman showed herself from the tree top, along with three others. The woman was quite beautiful, with long brown hair and bright green eyes, which they had later found out were one of the signs of an elf. Her ears were long and pointed, poking out from under her hair, and each had a gold ring pierced through. Her skin was a light brown, and her arms were decorated with black tattoos, giving her a mystical look.  
She wore a dark green tunic, which covered, from her neck down to just above her knees, along with short sleeves. She looked down at them with a look of impatience. "Ah, you are the ones who contacted me. Well," She jumped down from the tree, landing softly on the forest floor. "I am Huryta Malathyt." She looked at Craw with interest. "But I do not recall speaking to this one..."  
Craw flushed nervously, obviously attracted but afraid of the woman. "I--uh-- I'm a friend of Johnny. My name's Brandon C-Craw." His violet eyes were still wide from the unexpected visit.  
Malathyt smirked and looked Craw up and down. "You're a bit young to be over in such a place." She glanced at Smyth. "Especially without a talented guide."  
"Wha-- Hey! You never gave me a map!" Smyth whined. "How did you expect me to find my way??"  
Malathyt laughed. "We couldn't give you a map because you might have given it to those monstrous soldiers of yours!" She looked at the two with amusement, then motioned to the other three that had been in the tree with her. "Take them to Trythia."  
Craw kept looking at the elf for a moment, but two others then ushered him off. Smyth followed willingly behind Craw, down a hidden path in the thick bushes. While they walked towards Trythia, the ground under them was soft and seemed full of insect life. This was a shock for a boy who had never seen animals or bugs outside a cage.  
In fact, he had never seen much plant life either. The Imperium was just one large city, and had very few trees. It was only when they passed a flower that they were forced to stop. Craw looked at a wild flower, which had been growing in the ground. It was one of the most beautiful things that he had ever seen in his entire life, and the Elvin guards allowed Craw and Smyth to gawk at it for a few minutes, then they started moving again.  
After another half hour of walking they reached a particularly large tree, a redwood that was at least 300 feet tall.  
Craw looked at the guard behind him. "...This is it? A tree?"  
The guard smirked and pulled out a sword, raising it above his head as if to strike down Craw, then he lightly tapped the tree with its hilt and a long ladder lowered down, which he climbed quickly. The other two guards followed him, leaving Smyth (and especially Craw) speechless.  
"A city in the trees?!" Cried Smyth. "But how..."  
Craw winced at the cry. "Quiet down. Just... Let's follow 'em." He climbed up the latter, followed closely by Smyth. When they reached the top of the ladder, Smyth let out a low whistle. "Mundagus..."  
The tree top city was beautifully built, using the finest woods in the entire forest. The houses shone with sunlight reflected off some of the polished wood, and the radiant smiles of the elfin children all around brought a small smile to Craw's face.  
"I was wondering when you two would get here." Malathyt spoke from behind them, making Smyth jump and Craw turn. Malathyt smiled curiously. "What was the big delay?"  
One of the guards walked up beside Johnny and said in a beautiful tenor voice. "It seems these lads haven't seen a flower before." The guard had a fairly strong Jullim accent (Irish to us), and it gave him an air of kindness.  
Malathyt looked at the guard and smiled. "Why Adrio, I didn't see you there. You seem to get better at sneaking each day."  
The man laughed and stroked his small beard. His calm brown eyes shined with merriment. "That is why I practise Malathyt. And I must be getting good if I can even sneak up behind our beloved leader." He laughed good-naturedly and patted her on the back, then wandered off to do take care of business.  
"Leader?" Gasped Craw in amazement. "I--uh-- I've never met a...A leader of anything before." He bowed nervously in a confused gesture. "Your- -uh--majesty..."  
Smyth smirked at Craw, eyes glittering again. "My my Mrs. Elf, it seems that you have an admirer." He makes kissing sounds and was rewarded with a blushing glare from Craw.  
If Malathyt had noticed, she didn't show it. She just looked over her shoulder, then back at the two. "Come on. We have a meeting to attend." She smiled at Craw briefly, then walked off towards one of the largest buildings.  
Craw's blush only deepened at the smile, but Smyth frowned. "A meeting... I never heard of any of this..." He followed the elf woman suspiciously, soon followed by Craw. Some of the elves on the way greeted the two warmly (more than a few catching Smyth's eye), until they reached the large meeting hall.  
Inside were dozens of elves, men and women, all sitting in a circular fashion around the centre of the room. Craw looked around for a place for them to sit, while Smyth's frown deepened. "What's this?"  
An elderly elf limped out from the circle and smiled. "Brandon Craw and Johnny Smyth I presume?" The man's face was heavy with wrinkles, with a prominent hooked nose and slightly sunken cheeks. He was stooped over, as if he had the world on his shoulders ,but his eyes differed from the rest of his body, glittering a joyful and energetic green, slightly tinted with white.  
Craw looked at the old man silently, while Smyth nodded. "Yeah we're them. What's all this about anyway?" His eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion. Craw noticed uncomfortably that Smyth had slowly been moving his hand towards his knife.  
The old elf looked at Smyth's hand and shook his head. "That will not be necessary friend... This is simply a welcome." He smiled again, hobbling over to the two again. He extended his old, bony hand, which was plagued with arthritis.  
Craw looked at his hand, then took it slowly and shook three times, while Smyth did the same soon after, with less enthusiasm than his partner.  
The old man nodded and straightened his back somewhat. "My name is Olthonias. Welcome, to the tree city of Trythia." His smile returned and he backed back into the circle. "Please, step into the centre of the room."  
Craw was the first to step forward, into the middle. The room's floor was marked with intricate patterns of red circles and sometimes a green rune. Smyth studied the floor suspiciously for a few seconds, then reluctantly stepped into the middle with Craw.  
Why, thought Craw to himself, is he the suspicious one? He arranged this... Didn't he? The thought is ended when the voice of a younger elf begins to speak. "Xal l' har'dro cleanse dosst vesdrac, lu' dormagyn dos dal l' uoi'nota vel'bolen dos h'uena ul'kas delmah. Xal l' har'dro commend dos, whol dosst honglath, lu' cunning, pholor traveling ghil." The runes around the circles began to glow a dull green.  
Smyth blinked, and whispered to Craw. "You know what they're saying?"  
Craw shook his head, bewildered. "It sounds like Drow or something." He looked down at the runes anxiously. "I hope this won't hurt..."  
The elf continued to speak. "Nin xun l' wlalth, lu' morfeth nindolen draa, lodias d' faer!" The runes glowed brighter, then beams of light lanced out from them, entwining the two in a warm magic. After a few minutes, the light retreated back to the runes, and the elves smiled at Craw and Smyth. "You two are now rid of the poisons of technology."  
Craw looked at himself with wonder. His skin was no longer pale and dirty, but a light brown, like the other elves, along with longer fingers and a more delicate look. He slowly raised his hands up to his ears and felt them. They were pointy now, and much more sensitive. He looked at Smyth with a grin plastered on his face, but was given an unpleasant surprise.  
Smyth's face was quite pale, even with the new brown skin. His hair had changed from a light brown to jet black, and his eyes were no longer pure black, but a light green. His ears were elfin as well, but they were back against his head in a way that suggested discomfort. "W-What?! What did you do to me?!"  
Olthonias stared at Smyth with bewilderment. "Why, we've cleansed you of that which you ran from..." He took a step towards him.  
"This... This wasn't part of our deal damn it!" He growled and snapped out his knife from its sheathe. "Change me back! Now!" 


End file.
